


Part of Our Lives

by Innocentfighter



Series: Rebirth Remix [2]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash (Comics), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hal comes back last, M/M, Parallax - Freeform, Possession, Resurrection, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 14:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11315100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innocentfighter/pseuds/Innocentfighter
Summary: Barry comes back before Hal does, and it feels like he's the only one that wants Hal to come back.





	Part of Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Am I going to make a series about this? Mmhmm. Do I know when the next update is? Nah. However, I do know I will be going into Blackest Night, because I was thinking about something Nekron said about Barry being the last one back and I decided /what if/. So now I'm doing a series on Hal and his death/resurrection. Some of it will be with the pairing, other parts of it won't be. It depends on the mood. But I do know the next big part will be when Blackest Night falls. As a side note, Barry was brought back second to last, so everyone else that came back had already done so... I tried to keep it as close to canon as I can. And I absolutely love the Hal as Parallax arc. NOTE! Some dialog is taken directly from Green Lantern: Rebirth, which I do not own or take any credit for creating!

Barry felt the sting of electricity surge through his bones, the light solidified around him and then he was crashing into the concrete. Rubble and dust flew around him and he knew that it wasn’t all because of him. For whatever reason, he had been pulled out of the Speed Force in the middle of a fight.

It only took him a  couple of seconds to realize that this was a League fight. Superman’s red cape blurred in the air while there was another red blur below him. Barry somehow knew that it was Wally, no other speedster had managed to match him as close as Wally had. Wonder Woman and Aquaman were advancing on the ground troops their weapons glinting in the sunlight. He was also familiar enough with a grappling hook to know that Batman was somewhere behind him.

Other heroes were there as well, but as Barry took those extra seconds to see who all was there, he noticed a lack of green, discounting Oliver. There were no Lanterns fighting an alien threat. He frowned, but shrugged, they had their reasons for not helping.

He shook out his shoulders and charged into the battle. Taking out the alien forces that were going to land fatal blows. It felt good to be tangible again, to fight something and not just exist in a nebulous state. They easily pushed back the aliens, which was worrisome and he thought that they might be part of a scout troop.

The lack of surprise on some of the other heroes faces was surprising to Barry. He wondered what he missed that someone coming back from the dead was normal? Was he just supposed to roll with it now? Superman was the first to break the silence.

“Barry?”

“Yeah.”

Wally ran and gave him a tight hug. He hadn’t grown much taller than the last time that he saw him, but he had gotten broader.  _ The uniform fits him well, I knew it would _ . Wonder Woman was the next to hug him, which was bone crushing and she was grinning.

Before anyone else could greet him Batman stepped in front of him. He narrowed his eyes.

“We had someone claiming to be Barry, not too long ago, let’s wait and run some tests before we get too excited.” 

Barry looked at Wally for an explanation.

“It's him, I can feel it through the speed forces. The vibrations-”

Batman cut him off, “we’ll still run tests.”

“Sure.”

They zetaed to the Watchtower and Barry had to take a second as he saw how many heroes they had invited into their group. Just looking at them, it was hard to think that the Justice League had started as a secret group to coordinate with the bigger villains.  Batman lead him to the infirmary and Flash tried to keep his head low, so many heroes were looking at him with awe. As if he was some kind of saint. He said as much to Wally.

“You saved everyone from the Anti-monitor. Even those that didn’t know you, they all look up to you,” he had said in explanation. 

Barry had blushed and kept his head lower. Back then he had done just what needed to be done to save the day. He hadn’t thought about what people would think about him sacrificing his life for them. In fact, he hadn’t thought about it at all and just started to run.

He only vaguely remembered hearing Hal’s voice through the comm.

_ “Barry, if you run any faster you won’t survive it!” _

_ “Stop, please, we’ll think of another way!” _

_ “Oh god, I just- I love you. I always will.” _

Thinking back on that, Hal had sounded scared. In all of his years in knowing the Green Lantern, Barry could count on one hand the times that Hal had actually been scared. It was easy, it would’ve been that one time. Hell, when Barry confessed he had half expected Hal to bolt out of the window.

He hadn’t, and they had almost a decade of partnership before Barry had died. It must’ve been years since he was last alive. What could he even say to Hal? Batman left him in the infirmary to find Doctor Mid-Nite. Barry half expected to see Hal burst through the door. He could picture how it would go, there would be yelling down the hallway between Hal and Bruce and then seconds later the Lantern would throw open the door. Their eyes would meet automatically, Hal’s mask would fade and then they would come together and just enjoy each other’s presence until Batman came back and gave the all clear.

But none of that happened, Batman returned fifteen minutes later with Doctor Mid-Nite. The exam and interview were painlessly efficient and forty minutes later he was cleared. The pair left him alone in the infirmary, and Barry wasn’t sure how to proceed from here. His life was gone now, that much he was sure about. There were only a few people that he would need to tell that wasn't a part of the league.

There was all of that to do, but for the first time in a long time, he stayed still.

Honestly, he should’ve expected that someone would come and find him, he just hadn’t expected that it would be Oliver off all people to walk into the room. Even though time had passed Barry could fight the flare of irritation that surged when the archer walked into the room.

“So, you’re back, like everyone else,” Oliver said.

“Yeah,” Barry frowned, “you don't sound like you're glad everyone is getting a second chance?”

Oliver’s eyes widened and he crossed his arms, “not everyone.”

“Who else died?” His stomach twisted in dread.

He thought about everyone he had seen, none of his closest friends from the heroing community were gone, it could be one of his civilian friends (don’t let it be Iris), but the only thing that was sticking out in his mind was the lack of the Green Lanterns. “I thought you should know as soon as possible, everyone else said that we should give you time,” Oliver was muttering.

Barry sighed, “Oliver, tell me who died.”

The archer levels his gaze at the cabinet across the room as he leaned against the wall. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. After a couple of seconds, he sighed.

“Hal wasn’t the same after you died,” Oliver began.

Barry felt the dread deepen.

“He was grieving, we all understood that. We’ve all lost people,” Oliver continued, “he was going through the motions. He flew as well as he always had, but he was more reckless in fights, careless of collateral damage. It wasn’t just on Earth either.”

“Hal went gray about four months after your death, no one thought anything of it. Between the stress of our jobs and your death, going gray early is about the best anyone can expect. Then Mongul happened.”

Barry swallowed, he’d only heard rumors about the Warlord. The corps didn’t like him, and Hal was always chasing the rumors that Sinestro was looking to give him a yellow ring. If that had happened while Hal was mourning them, Barry could easily imagine that Hal might slip and the fight could turn fatal for Mongul.

“There was this Cyborg-Superman too, but I don’t know too much about that. What I do know is Mongul was trying to turn Earth into his new war world, he built this machine that would do it for him, on top of Coast City.”

“What? You mean? That can’t be!” Barry shouted.

“Hal was coming back after a mission, and he came back to his entire city destroyed. Seven million people. Carol and Jim’s family were out of town at the time, but Hal had no way of knowing that. He thought everything was gone.”

He didn’t want to know the answer to his next question, “What happened?”

“Hal kicked Mongul’s ass. Saved the world from a horrible fate. But the loss of his City was too much, and so soon after losing you? He lost it,” Oliver paused and took a shuddering breath.

Barry realized that this had to be as hard for Oliver to tell him as it was for him to hear. Hal and Oliver had been like brothers for almost as long as they had been superheroes. So as much as he wanted to know what his life partner's fate was he couldn’t rush Oliver. He was almost glad that it was Oliver telling him this: Bruce would’ve been too clinical, just the details of what happened no speculation as to why. Superman and Wonder Woman would be trying to break it gently, and they would have pity in their eyes. Anyone else would make it too impersonal or he couldn’t imagine them being capable of being sensitive in telling him.

Dinah or Iris might be the only other ones that could tell him that he could listen to without getting snappy.

“He made a construct of Coast City. No life, just the buildings exactly as they had been. It stayed up for a week, and suddenly it was gone.”

Barry felt tears well up in his eyes. Hal would’ve been dealing with this alone, shoving everyone away because he wouldn’t want anyone to see how unsure he was. He might’ve even been scared.

“I saw him just before he went back to Coast, he seemed a little too fine to me. He wasn’t like he had been before you died, but he was more him than he had been in months. I suppose that’s because he knew what he was going to do,” Oliver looked down.

“Whatever happened, I don’t think you could’ve stopped it,” Barry said, he wasn’t sure if his words were true but it seemed to comfort Oliver.

“I just wish I had noticed," he cleared his throat, "anyway none of us knew what happened to him. We all thought that he was just staying off of Earth, to heal. Until Guy starts freaking out about something,” Oliver shrugged.

“So a team of heroes went to Oa only to find that it was destroyed. The Battery, the planet, the Corp, the Guardians, everything.”

“No,” Barry whispered.

“Guy vanished after that, and the others come back muttering something about Parallax, Diana said it looked like Hal, but none of us wanted to believe that. Except for Batman, he took that possibility and ran with it.”

“Of course he did.”

Oliver ignored that statement, “the next thing we know there’s a battle to reshape the galaxy and naturally, they’re fighting around Earth. Superman rallies the troops, and I don’t know who or where half of those people came from.”

“Extant, who was formerly Hawk, was the one we were going to take out, we thought that he was the main threat, at the time we didn’t know about the second one. But just before we could engage the other one showed up. It was Hal, or so I thought, he kept calling himself Parallax.”

“Hal would never destroy the Corp! They were everything to him!” Barry cried.

“That’s what I thought, but he took out Extant with no trouble and kept on trying to restart the Universe. We had no hope of beating him, he was too strong. Filled with the energy released by the Anti-monitor we think.”

Oliver looked away from Barry now, “things got weird after that. Spectre showed up, the Spirit of Vengeance and started fighting Parallax because of the millions of deaths he caused. Meanwhile, the others are trying to reboot it. They manage by redirecting the energy into a kid named Damage.”

“Of course Parallax doesn’t like that idea and tries to kill the kid, instead a Batgirl from an alternate dimension takes the brunt of the blow. The new Lantern uses the weakening of Parallax to pin him down.”

Now Oliver breaks down, not completely Barry can tell, his head is held in his hands and his shoulders were shaking. He’s never seen the other like that before and he feels his heart plummet to the floor.

“I have my bow drawn and it's aimed at Parallax, it’ll kill him. Just before I let go, I swear Hal woke up from wherever he was, he called me Ollie, I called him Hal and shot him through the heart,” Barry can see the darkening of his mask, Oliver was crying, “I killed him.”

The room fell silent. Barry wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be feeling. Anger that Oliver had killed the man he loved, sadness that his lover was gone, or was he supposed to be horrified by what Hal had down. Oliver pulled himself together after a couple of minutes.

“We thought that was it, we saved the universe, restarted it to how it was supposed to be. The Corp was gone, but we had John and Kyle still. So we moved on, we didn’t even stop to mourn Hal. How could we?”  
_You were his best friend, you could’ve_. Barry thought angrily, but he didn’t say that. Oliver had obviously beat himself up over that, and the last thing he needed was Barry digging the knife in deeper, even though the word _murderer_ was bumping around his head.

“That’s when an alien by the name of Dusk lands on Earth. She warns us that Sun-Eater was going to eat our sun. We all scramble for a way to kill it, reroute it, or keep our sun alive. We can’t find anything and we had five days before the Earth froze.”

“I... wasn’t around for this by the way, after it sure, but this all comes from me reading the reports,” Oliver said.

Barry raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“All I know is that my arrow didn’t kill Parallax, or if it did, then he didn’t stay dead. Somehow he reignited the sun, keeping it from novaing and destroying the Sun-Eater. He died saving us.”

Oliver’s shoulders fell as if he had a great weight lifted off of him, but he was somber, “I don’t think Hal is going to come back.”

It was a fair guess, Barry assumed that Hal would’ve had to be within the core of the sun in order to reignite it. Nothing could survive that heat or that pressure. He still couldn’t believe it, Hal had been hailed as the Greatest Green Lantern and despite him never saying the title himself, everyone knew it. Hal’s will was infallible. So to hear that he had fallen in the way that he had, it didn’t make sense, but without being there, he couldn’t know for sure.

Part of him wondered if being alive would’ve stopped any of that, but if Coast City was destroyed regardless, he doubted it. He doubted any of them could handle their entire city being blown up like that. Not even Superman.

“Where’s his grave?” Barry asked suddenly.

Oliver looked surprised, “we, the League doesn’t know, some other heroes might though. No one could find it in themselves to forgive Hal for what he did. So we didn’t do anything for him. Jim and Carol might’ve.”

Barry shot up and was in front of Oliver in a second, “does the world even know? Or do they think he’s still a bad guy? He died saving everyone!”

“It wasn’t just a single person’s choice,” Oliver replied weakly, “the council decides on memorials for the Hall, and Coast City wasn’t there anymore. We couldn’t bury him in Valhalla, it felt wrong. He was a villain.”

He pushed away from Oliver. Barry knew what it actually was, they were using Hal’s death a reminder of what happened to anyone who thought that they could do evil and get away with it. Even if Green Lantern had fallen, Hal deserved something. Without another word, he pushed past Oliver and ran towards the transport tubes.

There was something that he had to see for himself. He zetaed to Star City before making the short run to where Coast City was. Like Oliver had said, it was a barren wasteland where the City’s heart had been. From where he stood he could see the old airfield and some of the suburbs had survived. But there was not a single soul to be seen. Death filled the air.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. For whatever reason, it lit up and had a signal like someone had been paying his bills while he was dead. Barry called the only number he knew he might have a chance of reaching any of Hal’s surviving family.

“Ferris Air, how may I direct your call?”

“Can I speak with Carol Ferris?” Barry tapped his foot impatiently.

“Sir, I don’t think that-”

He interrupted her, “tell her it’s Barry Allen.”

The secretary sighed but patched him through. There was call holding music playing for a couple of seconds before his call was picked up.

“Barry! You’re alive?” Carol almost yelled into the phone.

“ Yeah, long story,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “Listen I have a question.”

“It's about Hal isn’t it?” Carol’s voice dropped, “he died, he wasn’t himself he went bad...”

“I was... informed of what happened, I was just wondering did you guys get anything for him... a grave?”

Carol remained silent for a couple of seconds, “yeah, we did, but are you sure you want to see it?”

The way she said that had Barry frowning, “yeah. I need to. Make it feel real.”

Barry was slowly adapting to the idea that Hal was no longer part of his life. Everyone had always thought that it would either be Bruce or Hal that they were going to make a memorial for first. Then he had been the first Leaguer to die, and several after him ir  sounded like. So awhile ago he had accepted the fact that someday Hal might not come home.

Or he thought he had accepted it. There was a gaping hole in his heart that was Hal shaped, and he wanted nothing more than to have it filled again. He barely remembered the last time that he and Hal spoke without the threat of death looming over them.

Maybe a month before Anti-monitor attacked?

“It’s on Ferris Air property. There was this hill that overlooked the runways. It was the best we could do.”

Barry was already there before she could finish the last sentence. He expected a quiet grave sight, a tombstone marked only with a name and maybe some short sentence about his life. Instead, he got there and saw that the tombstone was cracked and glued together. Paint and carvings covered the rest of it.

_ Traitor. Murderer. Killer. Coward. _ Were the most frequent.

“Barry?”

“Carol, I’m going to call you back.” His grip tightened on the phone.

“I’m sorry, I was going to warn you...”

“It's fine. Talk later.” He closed the phone.

In a fit of uncharacteristic anger, he lashed out and slammed his fist into the tree. Wood splintered and his skin split but it was already knitting itself back together. He rushed off and came back with a rag and water and wiped off the paint. He couldn’t do anything about the carvings. Part of him wondered if this desecration was the reason that no one knew where Hal’s grave was. If Carol and Jim had been forced to move it because Hal’s old friends had to take their anger out on him one last time.

Hal had always dealt with the League’s anger. He even left it once because he thought that it would make things easier on them, he once said the world didn’t need to like him. Barry always thought that he was like that because Hal knew who he was supposed to be. Now he questioned if Hal lost himself and that’s why he fell.

Once the grave was cleaned as much as it could be, Barry could make out what it said.

_ Hal “Highball” Jordan _

_ The bravest man anyone’s ever known. May he continue to fly without fear _ .

Someone had scratched a line through bravest. Barry felt sick he reached out a hand to touch the grave. It would feel real then he hoped. The moment that he did a green streak appeared across the sky and headed straight towards him. He thought that it could be Hal, it was the same color but he knew that it would be the case.

It stopped a few feet in front of him, hovering in the air. Cautiously Barry reached out and grabbed it with his hand.

“Barry Allen of Earth, confirmed,” it said in a mechanical voice.

He hadn’t ever heard a ring talk before. Hal had spoken with it before, but it never made noise. Barry frowned, wondering what it was going to do.  
“Message Archive activated. Begin playback.”

Barry kept his palm open as the ring slowly turned itself out and created a hologram. It was Hal, but he looked completely defeated. There were shadows under his eyes and his hair was longer than it ever had been.

_ “I’m not sure why I’m even recording this, I mean everyone says you’re dead. Even the ring, but maybe... you just got stuck in the Speed Force. You said that was a thing right?” _ Hal tried for a smile, but it fell short.

Barry hadn’t thought that Hal paid that much attention to his rambling about what his powers could do, and why he was afraid to push them.

_ “I don’t have much to say, the other message will take care of that, but I don’t think that I’m going to be around much longer, so this is my last chance. _

Hologram Hal ran his hand through his hair,  _ “I love you, and I hope that you never forget that, but you’re able to move on.” _

He turned solemn, “ _ by now you’ve probably heard what happened. Coast City is gone, you’re gone. I don’t know what to do. For the first time, I’m afraid and I don’t know what I can do to change that. I mean, when my Dad died I got in a plane and flew better than anyone else.  When I became a Lantern and everyone doubted that a Human could be one, I proved to them that I could and that I could do it well.” _

Barry saw him nervously look over his shoulder and it was like he was seeing something, but from what he could tell Hal was alone.

“ _ I don’t have much time before the Guardians come to collect me, take away the ring. I’m sure I broke some rule of theirs, rebuilding Coast City. No life though,” _ Hal rambled, “ _ I just. I’m sorry for whatever it is I’m going to do, I’m not myself and I doubt I’m going to live long enough to apologize for it.” _

He couldn’t be sure, but Barry thought that Parallax reigniting the sun was the real Hal shining through, like Oliver thought before he shot him through the heart. Hal faded from view, but the ring formed another one. This time it was Hal looking more like how Barry knew him. His hair was short and styled, his eyes shone with the same light that they always had.

_ “Hey Barr,” _ Hal began with a grin,  _ “I’ve done this... eight times now? One for every year we’ve been together. I wanted to keep the message updated, and I doubt I’ll be able to make the ring stay for all eight before it has to pick a new bearer.” _

Hal paused, growing serious,  _ “which means if you’re watching this, I died. Just know I did everything that I could to get back to you. Providing you’re also alive, but I know you. We’ve always known I was going to be the one dying first, dying young.” _

Barry smiled sadly, remembering how when Hal reached 35 he was surprised, he’d outlived his dad and he had a far more dangerous job. In the Green Lantern Corps, he was considered a veteran.

_ “Despite that threat, you’ve always stayed by me. Loved me. After Carol, I didn’t think that it would be possible for me to be with anyone seriously. The ring would always be first. But you understood that you always put everyone first. I can’t tell you how much that made me love you. You’re so good, Barry.” _

Barry felt his heart twist painfully. Hal had never been one to hide how he felt, but he rarely expressed it in words. He was more of an action type of guy, but Barry had always known.

_ “Never lose hope, even though I’m gone, or will be, I will always be by your side. Thank you for loving me Barry,” Hal looked away suddenly like he was embarrassed, “you know, I was working on a plan to propose to you. I even had the ring picked out. I wonder, would you have said yes?” _

Now he was openly sobbing, Hal had never talked about marriage. He usually dodged or deflected the topic. Barry had never thought that he could be the one that tied Hal down. That man was so much a free spirit, that everyone figured no one could hold him. At least until Hal spent a year with him romantically.

Carol had told him, that when they were together they had so many breaks that by the time their year anniversary rolled around they had only been dating collectively for about six months. No one else had been around long enough for Barry to even remember a name.

_ “I’ve got to go, the Guardians are sure to override my override. Freakin Smurfs,” _ Hal smiled and the projection faded,

Instead of the ring flying off to look for another Green Lantern it fell back into his palm. For the first time, it was cold. Barry always felt an unnatural warmth from the ring when he held Hal’s hands, or even from the duplicate that sat in their room for the longest time.

It was likely dead, and there were no Guardians that could power the ring. Barry paused, he wondered where the thing had even come from. Hal was in the sun, and even he knew that the rings could break. A duplicate maybe? He shrugged and pocketed it. If anything it was his last tie to Hal and he didn’t want to throw it away.   


* * *

Barry hadn’t had anything to do with the Spectre’s rampaging. He wasn’t fond of magic, preferring science he would’ve helped if they asked him, but he was glad that they hadn’t. In fact, he had been dealing with his own crisis. Professor Zoom had tampered with his speed.

He’d been removed from the heroing community for a couple of weeks while he fixed what Zoom broke and while he tried not to touch anyone as he became the Black Flash. Once that was finally handled he went up to the Watchtower.

It was nice, being back with his friends. He was slowly learning about everyone who had died while he was away, and what had happened in the world. Clark was more than willing to help, considering he had been in the same boat. Though, Barry thought that he was a little too twitchy as if he was half expecting some secret to burst out of thin air.

Which had actually been the case. Barry had wandered towards the kitchens when he heard Bruce and Diana arguing. It wasn’t loud enough to be understood from where he was at, but Barry prided himself on being a peacekeeper of the League and moved towards them. That was the last fight that needed to break out on the Watchtower.

“I don’t trust him,” Bruce was saying.

“You don’t trust anyone Bruce, but he hasn’t done anything that warrants our interfering,” Diana sighed, “the Spectre is under control and somehow he’s managed to make it more of a spirit of redemption.”

“That’s my point, how was Jordan of all people able to change the Spectre? It shouldn’t be possible.”

Diana crossed her arms, “Hal has always been exceptionally strong of will. Perhaps that is why.”

“Or he’s playing to betray us.”

Barry gasped. They were talking about Hal Jordan who was dead as if he was alive. Clark’s twitchiness was making sense now. If Hal was the Spectre, then that begged the question of why no one had told him about that.

He pushed into the room, both Bruce and Diana going silence. Diana had the decency to look ashamed.

“So was anyone going to tell me? Or was I supposed to rely on Green Arrow to go against the League wishes again?” Barry crossed his arms.

“It isn’t Hal, at least not how you remember him,” Diana’s voice was gentle, “the Spectre changes a person, they become more the spirit than they do of themselves.”

“I had a right to know!” Barry shot back.

“Despite your still seeing the best in him, Hal Jordan became Parallax. He only agreed to become the Spectre to atone for his past sins. He isn’t the same person,” Bruce responded.

Barry had never had a problem with Bruce. They got along well, always had even when Barry was more inclined to agree with Hal. However, that was something that he was never able to understand about Bruce. His dislike of Hal, even when he had proved himself a hero.

“Why aren’t you giving him a chance to redeem himself?”

Bruce said nothing for a second, “because when you become something that evil, you’re no longer human. You can’t come back from that.”

Instead of responding Barry left. He wouldn’t believe that Hal was something beyond redemption, had he been the one to make the jump to Parallax. He would be first in line to call Hal out on his shit if he thought that he would be able to brush it off. However, it seemed like he wasn’t and it also seemed like he wasn’t aware that the Flash was still alive.

For the both of them right now, Barry was planning on keeping it that way. Though it hurt him to know that Hal was out there without any friends. Maybe the other Lanterns were with him. They tended to stick together, as long as they didn’t hold the actions of Parallax against Hal.

If one could even call them separate people.

So Barry kept his distance and Spectre rarely came near him, or Central City for that matter. He would hear reports of the Spectre’s doing, and some of them were so gruesome that he knew Hal was losing control of the spirit or succumbing to it. Even the Greatest Green Lantern’s will had to break sometime. According to John Constantine, it was a near miracle for the Spectre to go as long as he had without the whole “by hellfire be purged” incidents happening.

* * *

Things were fine for almost a year, but then Guy Gardner turned out to be allergic to himself on a fatal level. Barry had been on the Watchtower for monitor duty when John came rushing in toting something that looked like roadkill.

“I need help, dammit! Guy needs help!” He was yelling.

Barry kicked into high gear, rushing to grab a gurney and pull it into the main room. John set his fellow Lantern on the bed before he wheeled it away at superspeed. Doctor Mid-Nite, for his part only look disgusted for a second before he called for J’onn. He couldn’t stay in there much longer, Guy didn’t look like he was going to survive and he wasn’t going to be much help. Stitches he could handle, that he could not.

“Flash, I need you to go to Coast City,” Batman’s voice came through the comm.

“Why?” He asked already moving to the transporters.

“Reports came in about Coast City being back.”

He could tell what Batman was thinking. That they would find large constructs of green indicating the presence of a city that was no longer there. So he went and joined Aquaman on the pad. They were sent to different parts of the city even from a first glance, Barry could tell that Coast City was back. There weren’t any buildings save the one he could see from a distance, but there were streets, traffic lights and signs, and plant life. The blueprint was there.

That was exactly what he told Batman.

“22 sea view?” He asked.

“Yeah? Does that mean anything?” He asked because while he had one of the fastest minds, he was still reeling from Coast City being back.

Barry skidded to a stop next to Aquaman.

“His address, its Hal Jordan’s old apartment building,” Batman answered.

It wasn’t the same one that Hal had been living in when Barry knew him, more often than not he was in Barry’s apartment, but none of the League needed to know that. Batman would pull him off the mission faster than he could run, and then he would be sidelined. No matter his feelings for Hal, he would make sure that no one else got hurt. That’s why he wore the suit, so he could save everyone else.

Despite knowing the answer he still found himself asking, “You don’t think Hal did this do you?”

“Yes, I do. You shouldn’t be surprised.”

Barry didn’t know what the man was implying but found that he didn’t have the courage to ask. That was more Hal or Clark’s job. Batman stopped talking to them and started addressing the heroes in the Watchtower. Whether it was by accident or design Batman didn’t turn off their comms, and Flash knew enough that Batman didn’t do anything by accident.

“Coast City. Guy Gardner. Could the warning signs be any clearer?”

He scoffed as if Hal had anything to do with Guy being allergic to himself. Not even the Spectre possessed that much power.

Batman continued, “I’m beginning to suspect that Hal’s whole jump from Parallax to the Spectre was part of a bigger plan. He had power as the Spectre. If he can tame the spirit of vengeance-he’ll be close to unstoppable.”

Barry looked at Aquaman, who looked as stunned as he felt by Batman’s insinuation. That Hal was power hungry? It would’ve been the joke of the century if Batman wasn’t so serious about it. Hal loathed bullies first, and secondly, he had power with being  Green Lantern, he had respect. The ring was one of the most powerful tools in the universe, he never sought power.

“I find it unlikely that Hal was searching for more power. He was searching for redemption. He’s changed since his days as Parallax,” J’onn replied calmly.

It was the first time he had heard anyone openly defend Hal. Barry knew that he had, and there were others that had forgiven him. A couple of times someone would speak of him in a not so terrible light. He felt his affection for the Martian increase.

“I don’t think Hal Jordan ever changed, J’onn,” Batman pressed on, “he had an ego, he never worried when things came crashing down. He was never prepared, he just flew in damn the consequences.”

Barry felt like hitting something, hardly anyone ever got such a reaction of anger from him. Just as he was about to say something, Batman said the finishing blow.

“We should’ve known back then a man like him couldn’t be trusted. A man like him-”

“Enough!” John yelled.

He was grateful that the other Lantern had spoken up. Barry was too busy picking his jaw from the floor, he knew that Batman didn’t like Hal, but going as far to say that they shouldn’t have trusted him. He knew that couldn’t be what Bruce truly felt. It had to be something more.

John pushed on with his attack, “No. I’m tired of this. I’m tired of the disrespect Batman slings Hal’s way.”

Things were about to get messy on the Watchtower. Aquaman looked relieved that he wasn’t up there.

Barry shot him a tired smile, “like the surface world?”

“The shouting detracts from it, some days,” he responded.

“You’ve always had a thing against him, haven’t you? I finally see why. Hal is the one person in this world that didn’t buy what you’re selling!” John shouted, but his voice dropped, “Hal was the man without fear. And what is The Batman when you’re not afraid of him? Just a man.”

He barely kept himself from whooping over the comm. Someone had finally said it, and it made sense that it was a Lantern. Someone else must’ve come in because the noise was muted. Barry strained his ears but couldn’t hear anything.  
Batman was suddenly speaking again, evidently not affected by John’s outburst, “This is strike three. Face facts John, the real Hal Jordan is back.”

Barry frowned, wondering what it was that just happened. It took several minutes before the comms reopened. He and Aquaman had taken to exploring the only building in Coast City. Which had truly only been a building in the truest sense of the world. It had nothing personal within it, not even in Hal’s old place.

“Head to the airfield, Jordan is there. We’ll be there shortly. Do not engage.”

Aquaman shot him a look.

“I’ll be fine. I know when I need to be a hero first,” Barry said, but it felt like a lie. There were a million questions that he wanted to ask.

True to their word the other heroes showed up only a minute after they reached the edge of the airstrip. The storm had picked up then, and Aquaman was growing wary of the amount of lightning and how close it was striking around them. Barry shrugged, he was used to being a conductor.

Batman gave the go ahead nod and they pushed forward. In the distance, Barry could see Hal embracing Carol. They hadn’t been together in years, but still, he felt jealous. He wanted to be the one that Hal was touching. He missed the warmth. In his pocket, the ring heated up.

_ Wait. _ He had made a pocket for the ring in his suit, just so he could carry Hal with him wherever he went. For months it had been nothing but cold.  _ Is it the proximity? _

“Jordan.” Batman said, “what are you doing?”

To his credit, Hal pulled back and raised an eyebrow at the Dark Knight, and then at the other heroes assembled, “talking to a friend. What’s wrong? Do you need help, Batman?”

He looked at the other heroes, Hal hadn’t gone to the defensive yet, then again Batman hadn’t let the insults out yet.

“We have questions,” Diana said, in her hands, she grasped her lasso loosely.

That made Hal take a step back.

“Coast City just reappeared, every sign, street, and your old apartment building. Guy exploded taking a city block with him.”

Hal looked surprised at that, “Guy, is he all right?”

Batman apparently didn’t believe it was genuine, “What did you do to him? This city?”

That time Hal’s eyes did narrow, “I fixed this airfield, for Carol. That’s all.”

Barry could see the sneer on Batman’s face, “back to fixing things, Jordan?”

He knew that was a jab towards Hal’s time as Parallax. It was as if Batman wanted Hal to lose it and prove that he was right. Actually, Barry frowned, he wouldn’t put it passed the Bat. To think that this was the right thing to do instead of helping their friend.

_ God, he’s terrible at times. _

Suddenly John was shooting up in the and shooting at them. Superman flew after him and Barry could see Hal morphing into the Spectre, but from where he was standing it looked like he was fighting with it. For a few seconds, it looked like he had two heads. Barry frowned and moved towards him.

He wasn’t sure what was happening but Hal was suddenly gone from in front of him. Zatanna could find him easily, so Barry turned his attention to the rampaging Lantern that he could actually do something about.

John flew off suddenly, and he followed after him. Barry knew that the others wouldn’t be far behind. He was getting the sense that this was bigger than just Hal’s identity crisis. Sure enough, there were three Lanterns floating behind a Guardian while fighting Hal. But it wasn’t Hal, it was too twisted and it leaked yellow.

“I know what happened to Jordan,” Guy said.

John merely nodded.

Barry was surprised to see that Guy was no longer roadkill and John was apparently back to his usual self. He didn’t have much time to think about that, he had to stop whatever was wearing Hal like a costume.

Which was about to kill Alan it looked like, but suddenly it screeched in pain and it tore at its throat. That was before it split apart and the real Hal emerged. He was yelling at the Spectre to help him.

It was enough that the heroes temporarily pulled back, even Batman who was scowling. Barry was watching Hal fight for control and he couldn’t do anything about it, and it looked like he was going to be swallowed by the other two personalities. Suddenly Spectre’s form emerged and something yellow and horrifying was pushed out of Spectre’s body.

He heard someone describe it as “fear itself”. Barry wondered if that was the correct term, it made sense considering he felt the fear eating at his heart and it was yellow. Everyone knew yellow was the color of fear. Spectre was talking to himself now, or the tiny blue blip next to him.

The bug was charging at the Guardian now and Barry lost track of Spectre and the blip. He wouldn’t be fast enough to the pull the Guardian from the attack, even if they were fighting in a place that he could reach them. Fear was fast. The ring in his pocket was burning him now, and he wondered what was happening with Hal.

Spectre vanished at a very unfortunate time because the Guardian had been infected and their best chances at fighting it were grounded because they couldn’t use their rings. Barry found himself looking towards Batman who was as stoic as ever. Even in the face of fear, Barry huffed.

“That was inside Hal?” He asked instead, maybe to change the minds of those that still thought  Hal had been fully in control when he did what he did.

Behind him, he could hear the Lanterns floundering, which was never a good sign.

“I’m sure we’ve got a few others up our sleeves Kilowog,” Barry knew that voice better than he knew his own.

Slowly he turned around and saw a sight he was very familiar with, Hal flying to the ground in his Lantern uniform, the symbols following him were new, however. Barry was far enough away that he couldn’t hear the exact words being said, but he saw when they were about to take action and when Batman decided that Hal was not getting away this time.

“I want an explanation!” Batman demanded once Hal was wrapped in his cord.

Hal didn’t even look at him before he burned the cord off of him, “figure it out.”

Barry moved towards Batman before he could grab Hal but Superman held him back, he looked at the other hero confused.

“Batman has to make his own judgments about Hal.”

“He’ll make the same ones he has been all day,” Barry replied, “he doesn’t trust Hal, so, therefore, Hal is already condemned.”

Superman didn’t say anything but kept his arm raised. It wouldn’t stop Barry, but it was enough that he did stop.

As soon as Batman’s hand touched Hal's shoulder, the Lantern turned around and punched him.  Barry felt the shock travel through the heroes and it took everything in him not to snicker. After the day he’s had dealing with the Bat, it was satisfying. Batman recovered quickly and started giving orders, but Barry put his foot down. He was done.

“No, the Lanterns know what they’re doing. Let Hal handle this.”

Everyone looked at him, he only crossed his arms. Behind them, Alan and Jade put up a wall of fire to stop them.

“Your judgment is clouded,” Batman stalked up to him.

Barry shrugged, “I think yours is as well. Give him a second chance.”

The conversation ended, or Batman wanted it to, but Barry kept talking.

“Whatever that thing is, it had control of Hal. It took over a Guardian! No one can resist that for long.”

“He should’ve,” Batman said.

“Really? Are you saying he should’ve been stronger? You say that we should work together because we’re stronger that way than when we’re alone. Did any of you even reach out to Hal after Coast City was gone? After I died? Or did you think he was strong enough to handle it?”

No one said anything. Barry wasn’t vindictive enough to keep pressing the advantage he had so he let the argument die. Between the flames, he could see the Lantern’s light start chipping away at the yellow. There was an explosion and suddenly the possessed Guardian shrank and the yellow faded away.

Alan dropped the flames, and Batman stepped forward. “you expect me to believe this?”

Barry's jaw dropped by he snapped it closed before anyone could notice, and a couple of other heroes looked like they wanted to say something to the Bat. How could he not believe that when he just saw someone get possessed by Parallax?

“That you were influenced? Possessed? Is that what Parallax was? An outside force that-”

He half expected Hal to yell “yes! I do! You just saw that. How could you even think that I could do something like that?” Anyone else would’ve.

Then again Hal wasn’t anyone else.

“I don’t expect you to believe anything, and honestly I don’t care.”

Batman narrowed his eyes and Barry ran forward.

“So you’re back?”

He was going to say something, but once again he was beaten to the punchline by John, “is that a problem?”

“Not at the moment,” Batman turned and his cape snapped out behind him.

Hal rolled his eyes at the Dark Knight’s antics before his eyes landed on Barry. His eyes were wide and he was surprised enough that the mask faded from his eyes.

“Barry?”

“Hey,” Barry grinned.

John had enough sense to start pushing people away. Hal’s time would be taken up a lot in the coming months, learning about his death and time as Spectre, now that they were sure that it was truly Hal. So Barry was going to enjoy whatever time they had before that happened.

Hal was still staring at him like he was a ghost, which he supposed to Hal he kind of was. “you’re alive? How? When?”

“Before you were brought back as Parallax. I’m not sure how the Speed Force just kind of spit me out or I ran out. My time in there is a little fuzzy,” Barry shrugged.

Tension filled the air between them. It was an incredibly long time, but he knew that it was just his powers drawing out the seconds. He watched as Hal’s eyebrows knit together and he frowned, but then his face went slack as he realized what it meant. Barry bounced on his heels nervously. Staying away from Spcetre Hal seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he wasn’t sure that keeping his own rebirth a secret was a good idea.

“I’m sorry,” Hal said

Barry blinked, frowned, and then tilted his head, “for what?”

Hal spun his hand in the air, it was a move meant to be all encompassing an act of careless bravery. It didn’t fool Barry, it was too deliberate. Beyond that Hal’s legs were close together and his shoulders were hunched up, he was trying to make himself small.  He was ashamed of something. Finally, he seemed to catch on that his act wasn’t being bought.

So he sighed and dropped the Lantern uniform so that he could pull his dad’s bomber jacket tight in his front. He stuffed his hands in the pockets and sighed.

“For everything? Pick something I did wrong and I’m sorry for it. I fucked so much up during my time being Parallax or Spectre or technically both. I didn’t even realize that you were alive... but you had to know that I was existing.”

The wording was unusually specific. Spectre hadn’t brought Hal back to life it seemed like everyone thought that it had. Barry added that to the list of things that they were going have to talk about.

“Hal, you don’t need to apologize, that wasn’t you-”

“I do, for me. I have to feel like there’s a way to make this right! Even if I wasn’t in full control, I allowed for Parallax to infect me. I wasn’t strong enough.Everything it did while in my body, that’s on me for allowing it to happen in the first place.”

Barry listened to Hal’s rant. He wasn’t surprised that Hal felt that deeply about it, the Lantern always had strong beliefs about how things worked. Like because he had such strong Willpower he should be able to fight off anything trying to influence him. It was never as simple as someone being stronger than him.

“Hal-”

He continued like he hadn’t heard Barry, “not to mention my best friend didn’t want to get anywhere near me to even tell me he was alive! I wasn’t me, what I did I probably can never atone for, but Barry... I just want you to know that everything I said on the ring I stick by.”

That time Barry did step forward, crowding into Hal’s space. It got the Lantern to actually make eye contact with him. Hal stilled and watched to see what Barry’s plan was. He couldn’t believe it, after all this time Hal still trusted him to not do anything that would cross the boundaries that Hal had made. There was still the trust that Barry wouldn’t leave him floundering.

“I didn’t tell you I was alive because I didn’t think it would be good for either of us. Like you said, you weren’t yourself and that’s what I would’ve been expecting. You also weren’t in the right headspace to handle a relationship, much less one with your formerly dead lover.”

It said a lot that Hal didn’t try to argue with him about whether or not he would’ve been able to do something, “we’re heroes, this is supposed to be normal right?”

“Hal, nothing you went through was normal, you don’t have to pretend that it was.”

The Lantern tilted his head as if nothing else had crossed his mind. Barry pictured how Hal’s revival had gone, the ring found his finger and Hal suddenly woke up. Without a second to lose the Lantern was forced into battle to save the world. Without knowing how people would react to him or how the state of the world was. He saved the world again because that's what he did, what he swore that he would do.

Barry smiled softly, "so?"

Hal's eyes shimmered in the low light, with some unnamed emotion, "I can't talk about it, not right now. Maybe not for awhile."

"Take your time," Barry wrapped his hands around Hal's and squeezed gently. He could feel the unnatural warmth of the ring.

"I'll be messed up, hard to handle" Hal's voice trembled.

It was an unusual sound and Barry felt his heart clench. He knew that Hal wouldn't be feeling the fear that he likely felt from Parallax's influence or whatever he had to endure with the Spectre, but this was uncharted ground for all of them right now. Barry guessed that in a couple of days Hal would be put together enough to get angry about everything.

"Okay," he settled on.

Hal was looking at him like he had two heads, but he made no move to pull away, "thank you."

Barry leaned in, a move that could either be taken as an embrace or kiss. He was slow enough that Hal could have time to move away if that's not what he wanted. Hal leaned forward too but ducked his head into the crook of his shoulder. They stayed like that for several minutes grounding each other. They were both going into uncharted territory, but they were The Flash and Green Lantern they could handle it. Eventually, their friends will come around and strengthen their support system.

"You know," Barry said after awhile, "I would've said yes."

Hal made a noise of confusion before he made the connection to what Barry was talking about. Barry felt the lazy grin split his partner's face more than he saw it. Then Hal huffed out a laugh. He knew then that everything really was going to be alright, maybe not a first and maybe nothing would go back to normal but he knew there was no one else that he'd rather have by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> As always leave your thoughts below. So I was originally going to do this in chapters, but I didn't feel like I had the dedication to do that so I tried to tie up the loose ends that I could before ending it. However, it has room that I can explore it in a series. Which I plan to do once I finish Ineffable and my other big project of this universe. I already know where I want to go with this, so I'm not expecting more than five stories to this series. We'll see. Also, here's to hoping I dealt with Hal's possession and reaction to being brought back to life. I'll be exploring it deeper in later additions to the series. Also, I don't think Batman is as terrible as the story makes him out to be, but there are times I seriously don't like the guy because he can be pretty toxic. Until next time!


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